A few month's back, we shared one donor's concerns about excessive and expensive charity mailings. Our post got picked up by the Chronicle of Philanthropy where it generated a lot of feedback. Since then, donors continue to voice their frustration with specific charity's solicitation practices in the comments section of our ratings pages and in their emails to us.Here's an excerpt from one email detailing a donor's efforts to get off charities' mailing lists:
"I've been contacting a lot of charities lately trying to get off their mailing lists because I find it so wasteful when they send unwanted address labels, greeting cards, calendars, etc. It's been an interesting experience - discovering which charities don't share info, which ones take the time to respond, etc. One charity has been so helpful in helping to determine which other charities are sharing their mailing info that I may contribute to that charity later this year."
Consult the Tips portion of our site to find out what steps you can take to reduce the number of appeals you receive.
1 comment:
I stopped donating to the ACLU because I despised the way they communicated with donors/members--lengthy, patronizing letters full of underline, bold, and other formatting absurdities.
After I quit, they sent me constant "Final Warnings" begging, pleading, and threatening me to re-subscribe --for about three months--absolving any guilt I felt about discontinuing my donations.
It's sad when worthwhile organizations disrespect patrons so much they push them away, especially if they are actually trying to do good work.
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